Delight Out of Thin Air, in 18 Minutes
Jacob Collier's appearance with the National Symphony Orchestra
Maybe it’s a prerequisite, that Somber Concentration face worn by orchestral musicians when they’re working.
The job is certainly stressful — just auditioning for the job has been known to flatten some mortals. It’s understandable: Teaming up with 80 or so other humans to conjure beauty while executing a demanding score requires talent and sensitivity in equal balance. Not to mention humility and flexibility, the willingness to correct one’s course on a measure by measure basis. [Skills that, it should be noted, are most often developed in ensemble situations.]
The freakishly multi-talented Jacob Collier understands this. Still, when he shows up to try a little improvisation experiment with the National Symphony Orchestra, he radiates something else: Delight. He assigns each section a note (seemingly at random but definitely not so, as you’ll hear) and rhapsodizes at the result. He coaches the basses through a loop-like rhythm pattern and swoons when they lock it in. He uses his whole body to illustrate the sound of instruments sliding out of tune, and then uses that as a cue.
Watch the faces of the musicians as they warm to the endeavor. The grim countenances soften as the musicians open up. Some are smiling. As a group they seem curious and a little anxious at the same time, because they have no music notation in front of them and this places them outside of their comfort zone, especially for a performance.
Collier quickly establishes the parts of the piece, then explains the nominal structure. And then, without wasting a minute, he guides the orchestra through a serene, simple version of “Something Stupid.” Which he sings with disarming serenity, at almost a whisper.
The most impressive part: It took Collier just 18 minutes to wring this feeling out of the professionals of the National Symphony Orchestra. Sheer Delight. At the Kennedy Center. Anything can happen.
It helps that Collier picked a great song, an earworm that was a hit for Frank and Nancy Sinatra in 1967 and has been covered frequently since. Here’s that version…
And here’s delight in a different vessel, a live recording from the late New Orleans pianist James Booker.
So this is just absolutely incredible. I can’t fathom how somebody’s mind can even work that way, to come up with something so beautiful. I honestly didn’t want it to end. Thanks so much for this!!
I saw Jacob with Chris Thile and Punch brothers in their variety show Energy Curfew Music hour off Broadway in February. Jacob and Chris singing and playing Warmth of the Sun was an experience to treasure. At the end Jacob conducted the audience in choral notes up and down as he apparently did at Glastonbury. It was a healing thing really. I later read how singing does give the body relief. It was corny but still truly musical. I have heard some complain about him but I was moved by seeing him.